3D914s 914-6 SHO 3.2L v6, Build Thread - Project for sale. See classifieds Options

[3d914]

OK here goes . . .

I sold my beautiful Ravenna 914/2.0 so I could develop a custom 914 in good conscience. The sweet Ravenna was to stock to cut up and customize, & an admiring buyer wanted to return her to full stock - so it seemed like the perfect match.

Now I've found a 74 1.7 that someone has already led down the path of the Dark Side (as the puritans see it), and I'll simply take it the rest of the way. Just as a warning - this is not meant to be a factory GT look alike or anything close. I want to incorporate some of my own ideas and those I like that others have done. In fact at this point its not even going to be a Porsche six. My initial intent is to go with the Ford 3.0L SHO. Plans may change when I get to that point, but that's where I'm headed.

It seems reasonable to start with Before pics, so heres a couple of the car before I started any dismantling:

[charliew]

Good thread, lots of hard work, I don't know how you can work in the heat. I am retired and last summer I would work early in the morning till about 12 noon then clean up and eat and take a siesta and go back out at 7pm and work till 12 or 1 am. It worked pretty well except that you gotta have good lights and the painting must be in the early morning or it will get bugs in it. I also use a few big fans. Of course the fans gotta be off to weld.
Practise a lot with the scrap body metal before you try to put the repair panel in. You said the body metal is 16 ga. but I'm pretty sure it's thinner than that. It's probably 18 ga. Spot weld about 1 inch apart and keep going around the panel if it gets too hot to touch do something else and let it cool. You can buy the little butt weld gadgets at HF. I use a thick piece of copper to back the weld up if I can get it in position. Eastwood has a magnetic copper strip but it's not cheap.
My experience with pop rivets are they will show up later as little circles no matter what you put over them. After you get the fiberglass bonded to your satisfaction, drill them out and fill the area over with fiberglass strand. I haven't tried it but the product Kitty Hair, made by Evercoat, is a bondo type putty with fiber strands in it. There is also one by the same company that has short strands it probably will be easier to use, the long strands are harder to work with. They are both waterproof. I use them both but I haven't had to deal with pop rivets lately.
On the rotisserie I thought the practice was to brace the door gap to keep the tub from sagging as now the support is on the very ends not at the suspension where the tub was designed to be supported. I guess if the door gaps haven't changed it's ok, although it would be something if the fenders are stressed at the front and rear and you do all the body work and they relax when you take it off the rotisserie.
My experience with painting aluminium motor parts is that unless they are bead or sand blasted and painted with a epoxy paint it doesn't stick very well.
Good luck you are really working hard, I'm sure you will be proud of the finished product.
Isn't car life full of lessons?